Ups and downs of the St. John's basketball team
As Neil Best pointed out here, I am a graduate of St. John's. Even have the diploma in my desk to prove it. During my four years as an undergrad, I saw Felipe Lopez and Zendon Hamilton finally make the NCAA Tourney, Fran Fraschilla get fired, Mike Jarvis take a talented team to the doorstep of the Final Four and then get in lots trouble with the NCAA for Erick Barkley stuff.
A few years later I covered St. John's for Newsday, and during those three months I chronicled Willie Shaw's marijuana arrest (with former player Marcus Hatten), Jarvis' firing, and, yes, that infamous sex scandal in Pittsburgh, which I learned about as I was about to board my flight back home. Hence, I left the airport and didn't fly home for a few days. You could argue that was the last time the St. John's program was relevant in NY.
Here's SI's take on St. John's. Maybe I'll catch up with Jarvis (now coaching Florida Atlantic) for a Web column this season. Haven't seen him since I bumped into him at a Yankee playoff game in 2004.
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Comments (1)
Well I had the fun experience of the aftermath of all that loveliness at St. John's.
A team that made the Big East tournament only once in my four years, a team that wasn't that great to begin with and continued to lose it's best players to injury, from Darryl Hill, to Lamont Hamilton, to now Mase.
Excellent read, though.
Tim Fiorvanti ('08)